What to do with season's first strawberries

The strawberry can be a tricky baking ingredient, but here are some pros' tricks.

Is there a more beautiful harbinger of summer than the strawberry?

Heart-shaped and crimson, these green-topped gems are one of our most-beloved fruits.

Unless, of course, you're a baker.

"Strawberries are the bane of my existence," says Dave Miller, who co-owns Chicago's celebrated Baker Miller Bakery & Millhouse with his wife, Megan. "Every day, strawberries are different. That is the struggle of the day. They're the hardest berry to work with."

Some batches of strawberries have more moisture, some less. Some are candy-sweet, others border on bland. Professional bakers can't waste time and money on soggy muffins one day and dry ones the next. So, Miller and others have discovered some tricks to tame the devilishly red berry — especially timely with the first crop showing up at farmers markets this week.

First off, start thinking of a single strawberry as two different products — the fruit and the juice.

"That allows you to control the moisture," Miller says.

At Baker Miller, strawberries get put on a raised rack before being roasted in a 450-degree oven for 20 minutes. They emerge extra-sweet and slightly charred, and their juice can be used separately.

Just as a chef might "cook" fresh seafood with lime juice when making ceviche, a baker can "cook" strawberries with sugar. James Beard Award-winning cookbook author Rose Levy Beranbaum likes this method when working with both fresh and frozen strawberries. It's another way of separating the fruit from its juice.

"I'm big on concentrating things down," Beranbaum says. "I don't like to cook the fruit; I cook the juices and combine the two."

Similarly, turn the fresh strawberries into jam and use that jam in baked goods (or even in the whipped cream recipe below), she says.

Miller is at work on a strawberry muffin recipe that uses strawberry jam to control the recipe's moisture content. The shop also makes a popular strawberry chiffon pie that includes roasted strawberries and reduced strawberry syrup, as well as a strawberry pie with both roasted and uncooked strawberries.

Bakers should also be sure to clean strawberries properly before using them, he says. That means first picking off the leaves, then using a paring knife to carve out the center.

Adapted from Baker Miller Bakery & Millhouse. You will have enough lemon cream to make two pies. Leftover lemon cream can be frozen, or spread on toast. For the preserves, you can use the recipe provided here, or your own favorite version. Or try the roasted strawberries tossed with their syrup, see method.

Lemon cream:

7 ounces lemon juice

3 eggs

2 egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 cup cold butter, cubed

For the pie:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup homemade or other high-quality strawberry preserves

1 prepared 9-inch graham cracker pie crust

1 For the lemon cream, heat lemon juice in a double boiler. When juice is too hot to touch, whisk together the eggs, yolks, sugar and salt. Slowly pour the hot lemon juice into the egg mixture while whisking vigorously.

2 Return the mixture back to the double boiler; cook, whisking constantly, until it reaches 180 degrees. Cover the surface with plastic wrap and set aside.

3 Chop lemon zest with a pinch of sugar, smearing it against the cutting board with the side of your knife until it releases its oils and darkens.

4 Once the lemon cream has cooled to 140 degrees, whisk in the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, using an egg beater or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat until smooth and creamy. Strain the lemon cream-butter mixture. Stir in the zest. Cover and refrigerate.

6 To assemble the pie, spread the strawberry preserves into the bottom of the prepared pie crust. Top with the lemon chiffon filling. Chill for 2 hours or overnight before serving. Serve topped with fresh strawberries.

Roasted strawberries: Place hulled strawberries (2 pints or 3 pints) on a rack placed inside a rimmed baking sheet. If the strawberries are large, you may want to cut them in half. Roast in the oven at 450 degrees, 20 minutes. The berries should emerge extra-sweet and slightly charred; continue roasting for 10 to 20 minutes if they are not done. Pour off the juice and reserve to use separately for syrups, etc.

Strawberry shortcake with syrup and strawberry jam whipped cream

In "The Baking Bible," Rose Levy Beranbaum details a complex dessert that is like strawberry shortcake, but made with genoise, a sponge cake, baked in a special mold. We've taken two of her elements, the strawberry Grand Marnier syrup and strawberry jam whipped cream, to use with traditional shortcake.

1 Macerate the frozen strawberries in a medium bowl with 2 tablespoons sugar and the lemon juice. Toss to coat. Let sit until sugar dissolves.

2 Transfer to a strainer over a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap; let drain for about 8 hours. Gently press down on the strawberries to extract more syrup until you have about 2/3 cup.

3 In a small saucepan, stir the syrup and remaining 1/3 cup sugar until moistened. Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves. Cover and remove from heat. Cool completely. Stir in the Grand Marnier.

Adapted from "The Baking Bible," Rose Levy Beranbaum. You can use the strawberry jewels (see recipe) here, if you puree them and strain out the seeds.

1 cup heavy whipping cream

¼ cup seedless strawberry jam

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Chill the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk attachment, at least 15 minutes. (Alternately use a hand mixer and another bowl.) Whip the cream until it just starts to thicken. Add jam and beat until stiff peaks form. Sprinkle sugar over cream and combine.

1 Heat oven to 425 degrees. In the bowl of a food processor, fitted with a steel blade, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pulse to combine. Add the chilled butter; process until crumbly. While machine is running, add the cream through the feed tube, stopping just before the dough forms a ball. Save a little of the cream to brush on top of the shortcakes.

2 Transfer dough to a floured surface. With lightly floured fingers, pat and or roll dough to an even ¾-inch thick. Cut into six 3-inch circles; reroll the scraps and cut one more. Transfer rounds to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Brush tops with remaining cream; sprinkle with Turbinado sugar. Bake, 12-15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

3 To assemble, split the shortcakes. Spoon some strawberry Grand Marnier syrup over the cut side of the bottom half. Cover with fresh berries or roasted berries tossed with some of their syrup. Top with the top of the shortcakes. Dollop with strawberry jam whipped cream. Drizzle with more syrup.

This recipe from Tribune archives is adapted from "Perfect Preserves," by Nora Carey. The consistency is more like spoon fruit that a classic jam, wrote former Tribune food writer Robin Mather in explaining her recipe. It works well in baking applications, such as with the whipped cream and the chiffon pie.

2. Transfer the berry mixture to a colander set over a Dutch oven; let the juices drain into the pan, reserving the berries. Stir the remaining 3 cups sugar into the pan; cook the juice mixture over low heat, stirring, until sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes.

3. Raise heat to high. Heat to a hard boil; add reserved strawberries and lemon juice. Boil mixture, 5 minutes. Transfer the berries with a slotted spoon to the colander set over a bowl.

4. Boil the syrup 10 minutes, or until it is reduced slightly. Measure any strawberry juices that have accumulated in the bowl; add them to the boiling syrup. Continue boiling to reduce the mixture by the amount added.

5. Add the berries to the syrup once again; boil 5 minutes, or until mixture reaches jellying point on a candy thermometer at 220 degrees. (To test without a thermometer, place a tablespoon of the juices on a cold plate and chill for a few minutes. If the mixture is firm enough to remain divided when a finger is pushed through the center, it has reached the jellying point.)

6. Spoon jam into sterilized jars; place in a boiling water bath. Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.